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<div style="text-align: center; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">=========================================================================<br>L O W L A N D S - L - 16 May 2008 - Volume 02<br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
<span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">-------------------------------------------------------------------------</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Please set the encoding mode to Unicode (UTF-8).</span><br style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe"><span class="EP8xU" style="color: rgb(121, 6, 25);">Ben J. Bloomgren</span> <span class="lDACoc"><<a href="mailto:ben.j.bloomgren@gmail.com">ben.j.bloomgren@gmail.com</a>></span></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: </span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" class="HcCDpe">LL-L "Semantics" 2008.05.16 (01) [E]<br><br></span><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" id="1fcz" class="ArwC7c ckChnd">
<div dir="ltr">
<div><div class="Ih2E3d">I find the phenomenon of semantic shift quite fascinating and feel that
more attention ought to be paid to it in etymological research.<br><br>I wonder
if you agree with me about the following current shift development in English
and if you can provide more information. In particular, I am interested to know
whether or not this shift has spread from US English to other dialects in the
meantime, which would not be surprising given the power of the US
media.<br><br>It seems that the countable noun "man" (as distinct from
uncountable and article-less "man" = "mankind") is retreating. <br><br>Its use
as "adult male human" seems to be retreating to scientific and other "serious"
areas, styles and registers. In casual speech, "guy" seems to be the usual word
of choice (not counting what seem to be generational fashion words, currently
"dude").<br><br>In polite speech (in which "guy" would be considered too
casual), quite typically heard in the news, is "gentleman". What fascinates me
about this use is that, while it belongs to an elevated mode of speech, this
word has lost its original connotation of "distinguished" and "well-mannered"
(originally "belonging to gentility"). Because of this, people that, like me,
remember its special use, tend to find it rather strange that "gentleman" is now
being used to refer to men that are anything but gentle or genteel, in the news
for instance referring to murderers and other sorts of convicted criminals. I
believe this is a case in which people have ceased to etymologically analyze a
word, where it has simply become a series of sounds and letters.<br><br>On the
other hand, "lady" seems to have pretty much fallen by the wayside in the US, at
least in the northern states. I get strange looks when I use it
occasionally. Apparently, the word to use is "woman," even though this
usage would have been considered impolite in the past. So we are dealing with
asymmetry here: "woman" = yes, "man" = limited, "lady" = no, "gentleman" =
yes.<br><br></div><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2"> Ron,</font></span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2">At
least down here in Arizona, man and lady are very common even among
my generation. I'm not saying that my 12 and 14-year-old cousins would
use them, but I think they would. Yes, guy and dude are used, but dude is seen
as very low speech unless you're with the guys. If I don't know someone who is
an adult mail, <span><font color="#0000ff" size="2">I refer to him as a man. Rarely would I say gentleman, for that connotes
a middle-aged to older man. I have a friend who is in North Carolina, and he
uses woman a lot more than I do. Maybe it's different down here, but I
don't see such a shift unless you're referring to the generation immediately
below mine.</font></span></font></span></div>
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2"><span></span></font></span> </div><font color="#888888">
<div><span><font color="#0000ff" size="2"><span>Ben</span></font></span></div></font></div>
</div><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">----------</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">From: R. F. Hahn <</span><a style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;" href="mailto:sassisch@yahoo.com" target="_blank">sassisch@yahoo.com</a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">></span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Subject: Semantics</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Hi, Ben!</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">It's great to hear from you again.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I, too, believe that there are lots of geographical, social and contextual variations within the US. </span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">I myself still have a hard time referring to a woman as "woman," especially when it's within earshot of her. My inclination is to say "lady". I guess that's a generational thing.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Some people say "person" even when the gender is obvious. Also, sometimes people use the gender-neutral pronoun "they" even when the context is clearly gender-specific. It's a bit silly and impersonal for my liking, I must admit.</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Regards,</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Reinhard/Ron</span><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
<br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">
•
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